IDFA Honors Companies for Worker Safety

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) honored a select
group of dairy companies with IDFA Dairy Plant Safety Recognition Awards and
Achievement Certificates at a special ceremony during the association’s Plant
Operations Conference held last month in Chicago. IDFA created the recognition
program this year to honor dairy plants with exceptional worker safety records
and inspire others to enhance their safety measures.

Nominated plants were judged solely on specific data
required annually by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) on the facility’s “Summary of Work-Related Injuries and
Illnesses” report. Award recipients were chosen based on data from
OSHA reports for the 2003 calendar year.

Among the categories, based on product type and plant
size, Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand Ice Cream Co. swept the ice cream
division, taking home the awards for the small (tie), medium and large
plants. Foremost Farms USA was also a triple winner in the cheese, dry
product (tie) and milk categories. SouthWest won two awards in milk and ice
cream (tie) product categories. Other category winners include Jasper
Products (milk), Safeway Inc. (milk), Tillamook County Creamery Association
(cheese) and WestFarm Foods (dry products, tie).

“This program is an excellent way to highlight the commitment
that dairy companies have shown toward worker safety,” says Clay Detlefsen,
IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs. “We were very pleased to see the
high quality of the nominations and the overall response to this program’s launch.
Congratulations to these outstanding dairy plants.”

Facilities were judged in four product categories: natural and
processed cheese; dry, condensed and evaporated products; ice cream and frozen
desserts; and fluid milk. Within each product category, IDFA accepted nominations
for small (one to 100 employees, annual average), medium (101 to 200 employees,
annual average) and large (200-plus employees, annual average) facilities that
achieved the best overall safety performance rates based on the OSHA data.

2004 Winners of Dairy
Plant Safety

Recognition Awards
(product type/plant size)

Dreyer’s
Grand Ice Cream, Commerce, Calif.

(ice
cream, medium)

Dreyer’s
Grand Ice Cream, Salt Lake City

(ice
cream, small [tie])

Edy’s
Grand Ice Cream, Fort Wayne, Ind.

(ice
cream, large)

Foremost
Farms USA, Marshfield, Wis.

(cheese,
small)

Foremost
Farms USA, Preston, Minn.

(dry
products, small [tie])

Foremost
Farms USA, Waukesha, Wis.

(milk,
medium)

Jasper
Products, Joplin, Mo.

(milk,
large)

Safeway
Milk Plant, Denver

(milk,
small)

SouthWest
Foods, Tyler, Texas

(ice
cream, small [tie])

SouthWest
Dairy, Tyler, Texas

(milk,
small)

Tillamook
Creamery, Tillamook, Ore.

(cheese,
large)

WestFarm
Foods, Caldwell, Idaho

(dry
products, small [tie])

Achievement Certificates
for Zero Lost Work Days (product type/plant size)

Crowley Foods, Bristol, Va.

(cheese,
small)

Dean Foods/Land O’Lakes Milk,
Sioux Falls, S.D.

(milk,
small)

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Bakersfield,
Calif.

(ice
cream, large)

Marigold Foods, Rapid City,
S.D.

(milk,
small)

Marva Maid Dairy, Newport News,
Va.

(milk,
medium)

Midwest Ice Cream, Belvidere,
Ill.

(ice
cream, medium)

Verifine Dairy Products Co.
of Sheboygan Inc., Sheboygan, Wis.

(milk,
small)

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